Safety gauge glass



`)une 26, 1923. l 1,459,952

G. ERNST y SAFETY GAUGE GLASS Filed Dec. 7, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2WITNESS Patented June 2d, 1923.

STATES GEORGE ERNST, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

SAFETY GAUGE GLASS.

To all whom. t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Grnoiien ERNST, a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county oi Essex and State `oi New Jersey,have invented certain new and usetul Improvements in Safety GaugeGlasses, ot which the following is a` speciiication.

This invention relates to gauge glasses for steam boilers'or otheranalogous purposes, and it has special reference to visible gaugeglasses having a protecting means therefor.

Among the objects oi the invention is to provide a guard for the sightglass, comprising a plurality of heavy or reinforced transparent panelsfor the front of the glass and arranged at right angles to one another.i

Another object of the invention is to provide a guard tor the backportion of the glass and comprising a plurality of open mesh memberscomposed preferably of large and small mesh wire fabrics respectiveiy,special means being provided to secure these members together and theguard asa whole to the other parts of the structure.`

A further object ofthe inventionis to provide a gauge glass comprisingupper and lower heads held inspaced relation to each other by means otone or morerigidniembers serving as indicators of peculiar `and novelconstruction.

A. still further object ot the invention isto provide a. gauge glasshaving the guard means located within or between said heads .andproviding for the adjustment of the L `guard around the vertical orlongitudinal axis ot the sight glass.

Vith the foregoing andV other objects in j 'y the accompanying drawings,in whichlike reference characters designate the same parts in theseveral views, and in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section on the linebar. These sheaths are therefore readily re- 1-1 of Fig. 3. v

Fig. 2 is a side elevation as viewed inthe direction oi1 the arrow 2,Fig. 4. l

Fig. 3 is la plan view.

Fig. 4t is a horizontal section on the line 4.-1 of Fig. 2.y

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the ront guard.

F ig. 6 is a similar detail view of therear guard.

Referring now more specically to the drawings my improved glasscomprises what I'terni upper and lower heads 10 and 11, iiidicated inthe form of hexagonal nuts, each of which is provided with a seat 12 fora.

` nipple 15 rotatable within the head for compressing the gasket andgripping the same upon the outer surface ot' the tubular sight glass 16.The heads will ordinarily be regarded as being stationary, and thenipples 15 may be rotated therein for tightening or loosening thepacking members. The form of the heads and nipples adapts them for theapplication of two wrenches, one to hold the head steadyv while theother rotatesthe nipple.

Any suitable means may be provided to hold the heads in denite spacedrelation to eacli other and relatively fixed. To this end I indicate oneor more rigid members 17, shown as of solid metal of a semi-oval form incross section7 the inner or fiat faces of which are secured directlyagainst any selected iiat faces of the heads. 'lhese bars 17, it enoughof them were used, serve as guard members :tor the sight glasslo.Sutiicient space is lett between these bars to aord a view of the sightglass in case as many bars are used as the heads 'have faces.y Anotherpurpose of the bars 17 is to constitute indicators or indicatorsupports, the inner tace yot each` bar serving to'carry any suitabledesign ot indicator marks, such as a vertical f Stripe oi' a distinctivecolor, such as red or any other arrangement ot distinctive colormarkings shown herein as a vertical series of inclined or spirallyarranged stripes 18.`

These markings may be applied tothe bars in any convenient manner, but Ihave iound in my practice that the markings are preferably tormed on orcarried by a sheath 19 of thin sheet material, such as tin havingmarginal flanges 19 snapping over the edges of a` bar so as to be selfsupporting upon the As noted in Fig. 2 the water vin the sight As abovelpremised the guard means illus` trated comprises a front guard A. and arear guardB extending all the way between the twoheads l0V and 1l butnot overlapping the heads. The guard means are made of a lengthcorresponding to the space between-the heads which is predeterminedfinyaccordance with the length of the indicator bars. l

The front guard A comprises, in the form shown, two-plates of glass 20and 2l arranged at a right angle to each other, the joint between thetwo plates being parallel to one of them, and hence is so disposed thatinthe event of breakage of the sight glass 16 no particles of glass oreven steam could reach an operator anywhere in Jfront plates.

of the gauge. These plates 20 and 2i may -be secured in angular relationby any suitable means including a metallic `frame comprising upper andlower caps 22 each of generally l,triangular form and having flanges 23overlapping the ends of the The. main portion of each cap eX- tendshorizontally toward but spaced slightly froml the sight glass` ,16 asshown at 24. This'web, or main portion of the cap lies against the innerface of the adjacent head,

or theplace vdirected toward the opposite.

head. Extending along the otherwise free edges of the plates 20a-nd 2land vertically betweenjthe remote corners of the caps are lchannelmembers 25 embracing the edges of 'thel plates. These channelmembers arelixed rigidly to the corners of the caps constituty ing therewith astrong' metallic iframe for the front guard. Secured in any suitablemanner, as by soldering, to eachof the caps is a hangermember 26, kthemain portion of wh'ichis in the form of an arc of a circle and adaptedto bear against the adjacent head to limit the movement of the frontguard toward the sight glass, and the ends `of each hangerare `formedinto hooks 27 for the attachment of a fastener preferably inthe form ofa coil spring 28. The spring is attachedpermanently to one of the hooksand is detachably connected to the other hook so that the guard as awhole may easily be removed by unhooking the ends of the spring. Thesprings pass flexibly around the indicator bars and also around the rearguard as shown, and so they hold the front guard resiliently in placeand provide 'for the rotation or ,adjustment thereof around the vertical:axis ofl the gauge to any desired location according` to the positionof the operator. A f

The rear guard B may be of any suitable material, but shown ascomprising two mesh members 29 and 30, the former being stronger andhaving larger meshes than the other one. The lighter member 30 ispreferablylocated within the other for maximum strength. The edgeportions of the rea-r guard are reinforced or bound by metal anglemembers 3l each having a flange projecting substantially radiallyoutward therefrom to bear against the adjacent channel member 25 tolimit the inward movement ot' the rear guard while the edge portionthereof passes between said channel and the sight glass. 4The upper andlower ends of the rear guard comprise pieces of heavy wire 32.Vlllndwise movement of the rear guard up or down is prevented both bythe grip of the springs 28 and by contact withthel horizontal por-vtions of the caps 22. In other words, the rear guard is located betweenthe caps 22.

The guard members are so constructed that they transmit practically allof the light to `and through the sight glass, and yet from the nature ofthe guard members the breakage or explosion of said glass' cannot resultin injury to the operator or any other person around the machine. Mostcases of leakage of a gauge glass occurvat the j ointsbetween the endsof the sight glass and the nipples, and hence to correct such leakage itis necessary to have access to the heads or nuts and the nipples. Thelocation of my guard members is such that they need notbe removed forthis purpose. However, should it be desired to remove the guard membersfor interchange or any other purpose thev same can be readilyaccomplished simply by disconnecting the springs from the hooks `27 latone side of the gauge. After the springs are so disconnected both guardmembers are directly removable. It will be noted also that there isnothing to prevent the adjustment of the guard members around the axisof the gauge so as to bringthe indicator bars into theAV most suitablelocation with respect to the position of the operator.

Thedevice shown at 33 in. Fig. -1 `isa centralizer, serving to cause thecondensation water ,todrop lwithout flowing down the sight glass. v

1 claim: v l. .The herein described indicator .bar 'for gauge glasses,the same comprising -4a straight bar having a flat surface with paralleledges, and a sheet lmaterial member iitted over said flat surface and'having edge flanges embracing the edges of the bar, said member havingcolor markings on its inner surface. 2. The herein described indicatorbarfor ygauge glasses, comprising a straight metal jected, rigid meanssecured to both heads' serving to hold them in predetermined spacedrelation to each other7 a pair ofnip-` ples having threaded co-operationwith the head-s and through the rotation of which nipples the ends ofthe sight glass are dif rectly sealed in the heads, a front guard membercomprising upper and lower caps located entirely. within the spacebetween the heads and transparent means extending between the caps, andmeans to hold the guard member in place. y

4. The herein described gauge glass con1- prising a sight glass, a frontguard comprising a transparent imperforate member and engagement meansat ltsends havlng hooks, a rearguard extending around kthe sight glass`from one` side of the front guard to the other,` and resilientv membersextending from one side of the front guard member around the other guardmember for detachable engagement with said hooks.

5. The herein described gauge glass comprising a front guard member, arear guard member, the side edges of one guard member embracing thecorresponding edges of the other `guard member, and fastening meanstohold both guard members in place Said ,fastening means consisting of apair of coil springs permanently connected at one end to one side of thefront guard member and having detachable connection at the `other endwith the other side ofthe front guard member.

Grenen sansa?.

